Technical and Cost Analysis of a High Pressure Die Casting Operation for the Fabrication of Aluminum Automotive Parts

摘要

The production of aluminum castings forautomotive applications involves a selection of the optimaltechnology which depends on both technological and economic factors.In high-pressure die casting, the resulting quality of thecomponents is considered not as good as in alternative castingoperations, (low pressure, squeeze casting). In contrast, thisprocess has the capability for high production rates. Consequently,the justification for using this process, involves the balancebetween the need for high production volumes and sufficientstandards for the product quality.The objective of this paper is to present the results of atechnical-economic analysis of this process. For this purpose, themetal injection speed, a process parameter that affects in a largedegree both the final product quality and the productivity has beensystematically studied.In the paper, we first present results showing the influencebetween injection speed and porosity analising the behavior of thefilling and solidification aspects of the process. This was carriedout using a commercial casting code (EKK inc.). Secondly, therelevance of the injection speed has been analysed from aneconomic point of view, following the Technical Cost Modellingmethodology, developed at MIT's Materials Systems Laboratory,which permitted to explore the influence of part rejects and cycletime on process costs applied to the case of an aluminum alloyA413 casing cover.